Time to go home. I have been three months on the road and my “Senior Management” is eagerly waiting to see me again. I have been on the Westerdam for four weeks and before that on the Zuiderdam and on the Rotterdam. The last three weeks of the Westerdam visit was all about being a… read more of “12 Dec. 2015; Fort…”

The Weather Gods are not always smiling upon us and today it looked like as if they had taken a break altogether from regulating the weather. On arrival the sky was overcast, it was rainy, windy and bleak. Apart from the wind strength forecast not being in synch with reality even the wind direction was… read more of “11 Dec. 2015; Half…”

Today we enjoyed a glorious day at sea. Following winds, partly cloudy skies and smooth seas. A perfect day to be on board. The guests had to make the difficult choice between enjoying this outside weather or partaking in the daily program activities, or the Mariners luncheon, or going to the sales in the shops…. read more of “10 Dec. 2015; At…”

We sailed into Crown Bay after the exact correct time of 06.00 at the pilot station, first line ashore at 06.30 and being fully docked at 07.00 hrs. If you are on a regular cruise schedule you can achieve such a routine and through the season a certain competition element comes forward among the Navigators… read more of “09 Dec. 2015:…”

It is always hard to predict the wind and the current. As a rule of thumb the current is stronger when there is a lot of wind in the same direction as the wind gives the water an extra push. However the current can be even stronger when there is not much wind, because something… read more of “08 Dec. 2015; San…”

The weather is holding and today was a real nice “Caribbean” day. Although we are not in the Caribbean yet but half way between the Bahamas and San Juan. We were in port again with the Carnival Breeze which arrived at 09.00 hrs. For our operations this is a real inconvenient time as the pier… read more of “07 Dec. 2015; Grand…”

Today we are at sea and after a bit of a wobbly night, courtesy of that rainy weather front of yesterday, things settled down in the morning. The sun came out and it turned into a beautiful sea day. The ship is now doing what it should do to be a sea ship: move gently…. read more of “06 Dec.2015; At…”

Last night after I finished my daily blog we had a little Dutch gathering to celebrate “Sinterklaas”. It is a feast from where Santa Claus originally came from. What is now standard for Christmas in North America was once imported in the 17th century from the Low Lands in Europe. It started in the ancient… read more of “05 Dec. 2015, Fort…”